Ducati recently launched its new Streetfighter motorcycle with a reveal video and at the EICMA conference. Both events have been captured on YouTube, but for several reasons this online launch marks another corporate social media failure.

Yay. YouTube, but is that really social? Consider the lack of discussion on Twitter. How about blog posts? Only 285 in Technorati in all languages, including all of the prelaunch rumors.

In my mind, that means the community was not engaged. Companies who experiment with social media often make this mistake. They publish content instead of interacting with their stakeholders. They push messaging instead of engaging the community. Influencer relations and knowing the prominent Ducati owner and motorcycle influencers to involve them in the launch would have been savvy. Consider India’s Bikers on the Fastrack Facebook Group.

Heck, even the official web site doesn’t have the basic tagging and sharing principles that any major online product release should have. I don’t care whether you call that a social media release or just common sense. Consider that the reveal photos were not issued on Flickr though lots of folks at the show took them.

In addition to influencer relations and posting content in socially accessible locations, here are several pointers that Ducati could have benefited from:

What else would you suggest for this effort?

Yes, we all hate these ethical transgressions.  Social media is supposed to be a game changer, a creator of forthright relational discussions between two parties, not another communications tool set to manipulate people with.. Yet, unethical communicators from all sides of the aisle can’t seem to help themselves, as demonstrated by one Democratic state senatorial candidate in Nevada.

The story goes something like this… After Democratic Challenger Allison Copening failed at the first debate (both Democrats and Republicans called it a failure), the Nevada State Democratic Party dumped what rumored to be $1 million smear campaign against Sen. Bob Beers. As part of the effort, this "anonymous blog" appeared, dubbed  The Real Beers.  Dig into the blog and you will see:

1. While it does carry the Nevada State Democratic Party name, there is single person to hold accountable.

2. The comments are filtered to prohibit any pro Bob Beers messages.

3. The comments that have been allowed are written by the agency that produced it, with the exception of one.

4. The people in the video are staged (more coming later).

5. The stories, quotes, etc. are all half-truths, fabrications, spin, and lies. Most of these are addressed by the Beers campaign.

Funniest yet, the YouTube video includes people who are not residents. It is verifiable because, especially the testimony on the end. from a person identifies himself as a resident, but appears to be the same person on a hip hop forum maintained by the agency of record who built the site, the Drex Agency. Classy folks, there at Drex.   Drex busted itself when it accidently put up a template of the entire blog in their public work files. The work files were scanned and cached. Drex is sending mailers to local citizens to drive them to the web site, too. Gotta love an integrated campaign.

While the social media communications echo chamber hasn’t picked up on this nasty astroturfing incident, the local bloggers and media have.  The Las Vegas Sun goes so far as to say:

This kind of assault, no matter how little it is grounded in reality, can work.

Look, this company does not have a formal political agenda. But if I did force one upon my employees, it would be Democratic, as evidenced by my blatant support of Obama in recent weeks. I don’t care what party, company or organization you work for, astroturfing is a dirty nasty practice that should result in offending parties losing their jobs.  It’s flat out wrong. And it flies in the face of everything so many of us have tried to build out here, beginning with the timeless Cluetrain Manifesto,whose words, "There is no market for messages," still rings true to this day.

If we as a group of communications don’t call out transgressions like the Copening campaign’s smeer effort with its fake grassroots effort, who will?  Stop astroturfing now!

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